The Last Supper

I have just finished reading the Pope's Encyclical ECCLESIA DE EUCHARISTIA and I wish I could describe the depths and breadth of this wonderful letter. All I can say is please read it for yourself.

In the last chapter of it "AT THE SCHOOL OF MARY, “ WOMAN OF THE EUCHARIST”" he writes:

As a result, there is a profound analogy between the Fiat which Mary said in reply to the angel, and the Amen which every believer says when receiving the body of the Lord. Mary was asked to believe that the One whom she conceived “through the Holy Spirit” was “the Son of God” (Lk 1:30-35). In continuity with the Virgin's faith, in the Eucharistic mystery we are asked to believe that the same Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Mary, becomes present in his full humanity and divinity under the signs of bread and wine.

He also writes much about the relationships between the proper celebration of the Mass and of showing our love of God through the Eucharist. He also touches on Church architecture in relationship to the mystery of the Eucharist.

With this heightened sense of mystery, we understand how the faith of the Church in the mystery of the Eucharist has found historical expression not only in the demand for an interior disposition of devotion, but also in outward forms meant to evoke and emphasize the grandeur of the event being celebrated. This led progressively to the development of a particular form of regulating the Eucharistic liturgy, with due respect for the various legitimately constituted ecclesial traditions. On this foundation a rich artistic heritage also developed. Architecture, sculpture, painting and music, moved by the Christian mystery, have found in the Eucharist, both directly and indirectly, a source of great inspiration.

This explains to me exactly what is wrong with much modern church architecture, that it is unmoved by the Christian mystery found in the Eucharist. It is nice to read a document that is so eminently not fiskable. I found that the document fisked myself in that it showed me my great poverty for not fully appreciating the Eucharist and how many opportunities I have squandered in not spending more time before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Hopefully I will have learned something from our wonderful Pope as I leave now to go attend Mass tonight on this Holy Thursdays.